Jiro Asada

Jirō Asada (浅田 次郎, Asada Jirō, born December 13, 1951 in Tokyo) is the pen name of Kōjirō Iwato (岩戸 康次郎, Iwato Kōjirō), a Japanese writer.

Inspired by Yukio Mishima, who tried to stage a coup d'état among Japan Self-Defense Forces then committed suicide after the coup was failed, Asada enlisted in the SDF after finishing his studies. He changed jobs many times while endeavoring to find writing opportunities, submitting his works to literary competitions. In 1991, his novel Torarete tamaruka! (とられてたまるか!) started his literary career. After writing several picaresque novels, his novel Metro ni notte (地下鉄に乗って) was awarded the Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers and made into a 2006 film; a short story collection The Stationmaster and other stories (Poppoya (鉄道員)) was also awarded the Naoki Prize. He writes not only standard fiction and picaresque novels, but also historical and Chinese historical novels such as The Firmament of the Pleiades (Sōkyū no subaru, 蒼穹の昴). He is seen as an author who has continued the traditional style of Japanese popular fiction.